Lehigh Valley high school wrestlers excel at Bethlehem holiday classic

Starting time for Dec. 29 event at Liberty High is moved up as storm looms.

December 28, 2012|By Tim Shoemaker, Special to The Morning Call

Only three local teams appear in the top 10 after Friday, the first night of the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic in Liberty High School's Memorial Gymnasium, and one — Nazareth — is not in the building at all because of a skin infection circulating among the team members.

But while the local teams are not dominating, some individuals are.

Northampton, in 17th place among the 28 schools, has three wrestlers in the semifinals Saturday, Dec. 29, two of whom pulled off upsets. Matt Scheetz (113) defeated top seed Danny Boychuck of Wyoming Seminary by a 4-2 count in the quarters, and Bobby Fehr won an 8-2 decision over second seed Nick McGinley of St. Mark's.

Scheetz and Fehr will join teammate Zach Valley (126) in the semifinals, which have been moved up to 9:30 a.m. in an attempt to get the balance of the tournament in due to an impending snowstorm.

Tournament officials plan to wrestle one round immediately after the previous one with no breaks, meaning wrestling should be complete in mid-to-late afternoon.

Defending champion Wyoming Seminary leads the team scoring with 163.5 points, followed by Phillipsburg (115.5) and Central Dauphin (115). Saucon Valley (96.5) and Stroudsburg (92.5) round out the top five. After Stroudsburg, the next local school is host Liberty, in 13th with 78 points.

Pen Argyl, in 15th with 73.5 points, also has three in the semifinals. Matt Williams (120), Mikey Racciato (145) and Brady Mutton (285) all have semifinal bouts Saturday, Dec. 29.

Saucon has two in the semis — second seed Bryan Israel at 120 and Ray O'Donnell (190), coming off a second-place finish at the Beast of the East. The Panthers did not have a productive wrestleback round and have only four wrestlers left competing.

"We did some good things, but there's definitely a lot of things we need to work on," Saucon Valley coach Chad Shirk said. "That's why we come to tournaments like this and the Beast. It shows you what to work on and exposes your weaknesses."

Israel will face Ben Ross of Pennridge in the semis at 120, while Williams of Pen Argyl will wrestle top seed Council Rock South's Dan Martaccio.

Stroudsburg has only one wrestler in the semis — Jake Jones at 106 — but has five wrestlers still competing in wrestlebacks.

Jones pulled off a surprise of his own by taking down No. 1 seed Tyler McBride of Camden (N.J.) Catholic, who medaled in the New Jersey state tournament last year.

Mountaineers coach Matt Kleinle said he hopes his team finishes better than in the recent King of the Mountain tournament.

"So far we're doing not too bad — better than what I thought," Kleinle said. "I have a young team. They're wrestling fairly well. Hopefully they can keep it up. We had a similar start at the King of the Mountain, but we kind of fell apart."

Phillipsburg has two in the semifinals in Brandon Paetzell (106) and Corey Zinsmeister (126). Paetzell will wrestle Stroudsburg's Jones, and Zinsmeister will wrestle top seed Grimaldi Gonzalez of Liberty.

At 113, an all-Bucks County semifinal will be fought when Tanner Seislove of Quakertown meets Pennridge's Scotty Parker. Quakertown has another semifinalist in second seed Collin Dorney.

Freedom is another school with two semifinalists — Jake Young (170) and Tyler Peerson (285). Young plowed through two opponents by a 22-4 count.

Lehighton freshman Connor Frey moved from the pigtail round to the semis via two falls and a 7-4 win over Stroudsburg's Keith Howie.